


Between Hope and Despair

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Gray Ships [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 18:29:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1993278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter what she does, someone will be hurt, and she will feel torn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Hope and Despair

Andromeda leans against Glorfindel, pretending that her face is wet with the spray from the ship, ephemeral as it is, and not with tears. She had thought she'd come to terms with the loss of her family, even though there had been the slimmest of chances of the Valar being able to give her a way home. To see Ted, still caught between hope she lived and despair that she had died, had ripped open a wound she had thought scarred over. A wound she found she couldn't let him see, didn't know how to share with him, and barely wanted to acknowledge.

To walk away from him - to leave behind him and their daughter - is easier and harder than she had thought it would be, and she still isn't sure which had been the right thing to do. No matter what she does, someone will be hurt, and she will feel torn. Whichever way she had chosen, she would have left behind family - and in the end, she had already left behind Ted and Nymphadora once before, no matter how accidental that had been. She knows now that they live, and they will continue to survive.

"You know coming with the ship, accepting the gift Megilwen gave up, doesn't actually mean you won't eventually die?" Glorfindel's voice is almost as much felt as heard, he's speaking so quietly, and Andromeda lets out a brief laugh.

"Does it matter? I wouldn't want to live forever, even with friends who will do the same." She watches the water as they sail before the wind, the surface gleaming silver. "And so long as someone remembers who I am over my life, I am not entirely dead. Beyond the reach of the living, perhaps, but not entirely dead. Ted and Nymphadora will remember me, and so I will live on in their minds - and in Nymphadora, too, in a way. Children are immortality, of a sort."

Glorfindel hums a moment, tightening the arm he'd wrapped around her shoulders when she wasn't paying attention. "I will remember you. All of us, I think, will."

"Then I will never die, will I?" Andromeda smiles, though she can still feel tears slipping down her cheeks. "I will miss them, but I think I've grown used to missing them. And I couldn't stay. I wish I could have, but I couldn't."

She feels Glorfindel rubbing her shoulder, and turns away from watching the sea to hide her face in his shoulder, letting herself mourn the family she's left behind again.


End file.
